Beauty and the Beast
by Amywxue
Summary: Harada Risa was just a normal girl. One day, while taking a walk with her sister, Riku, she gets lost and winds up at a spooky old mansion owned by a terrifying 'Beast'. Will this innocent girl be able to break through his icy heart? Rated T just to be safe.


**Um, okay… this is my first venture into the DNAngel archive, **_**and**_** my first attempt at writing romance, so please don't hate me too much…**

**Disclaimer – I do not own DNAngel. Trust me, if I did, I would already have changed the anime ending.**

The girl ran as hard as she could, her breath showing clearly in the winter night air. The sound of howling made her look back in terror, then scramble yet faster onwards, ignoring the branches that threatened to trip and scratch her. The only reason that she hasn't been caught by the tightly pursuing wolf pack was that she had heard their howling earlier and had a head start. She was keeping in front of them – just.

For the dozenth time, Harada Risa (very uncharacteristically) cursed her luck. If only she hadn't thought to go on a walk with Riku through the forest that day. If only she didn't get herself separated from Riku. If only it hadn't started snowing. If only she hadn't managed to get herself targeted by wolves – but wishing that now was useless.

With horror, she realized that she was quickly tiring. P.E had never been one of her strong points. She yelled out as she slipped over a frozen puddle, landing – hard – on her backside. It would have been funny if the situation had not been so desperate. The wolves howled in a frenzy, sensing that their prey was cornered. Risa could already see the golden eyes of the lead wolf, glowing faintly in the almost non-existent light.

_Is this the end?_ She wondered. Though her heart rate was already off the scale, she was surprisingly calm. She smiled grimly. '_And the little girl ran into the forest, and was never seen again…_'

She closed her eyes, waiting for the end to come. But the hot breath, the searing pain, never came.

Opening her eyes a crack, she was surprised to see that the wolves were whimpering, slowing retreating back into the shadows of the woods. Something kept them from getting any closer. They were staring at her. No – not _at_ her.

Slowly, she turned her head. What she saw took her breath away.

A three-story, olden-style mansion perched proudly on the hilltop. Its walls were covered in ivy and mold. Risa would have thought that it was abandoned if not for the light that shone from a window on the first floor. Was this what scared the wolves so much?

Glancing around, Risa found that she was alone. All the wolves had vanished without trace. She pondered her situation. What should she do? Trying to find her way home was completely out of the question. Either she stayed where she was and hope that someone will find her (a very small chance) or she could try and seek help from whoever lived in the mansion. She decided on the latter.

Leaving herself to her feet, she slowly made her way to the front door. Now that she had stopped moving, the cold was really beginning to settle in. Her teeth were chattering like there was no tomorrow – which, she reminded herself, could well be true – and her hands felt like they had been frozen. Her feet felt and moved like lead – from the exhaustion or the cold, Risa wasn't sure.

Gathering up her remaining her strength, she knocked on the heavy door. The effort proved to be too much for her, however. Black began to seep into her vision. The last thing she saw was a bizarre sight of a white rabbit and a _paintbrush_ open the door cautiously. Her last thought was; _I have _got_ to be hallucinating… _

Then she passed out.

* * *

"_Kanashii hodo hikari dashita_

_Shiroi yami kirisaku tsubasa ni nare…"_

_What a nice voice…_ Risa thought sleepily. She was dimly aware that she was awake, but she felt so _warm_. She didn't want to move. Instead, she listened to the song.

"_Tsumetai taiyou ni terasareteta_

_Kainara sareta jiyuu ga atta_

_Kagami ni utsutta kiseki no yoru_

_Masuku o hazushi hajimeta My soul…_

_Shiro ku somaru yami tsukinukete_

_Atarashii jidai o kizamitsudzukero_

_Toki hanashita kokoro no mama ni_

_Hateshina ku, tsudzuite ku,_

_Byakuya o tobe…"_

_Such a beautiful song…_ With some surprise, Risa realized that she was crying. _So pretty… but so sad… why… why are you so sad…?_

Yawning, she sat up. The song was cut off abruptly. A second later, the voice of the singer called,

"Oi! Daisuke! Emiko-san! The girl's awake!" Scuffling sounds could be heard, then the sound of movement.

Risa quickly dried her eyes. She looked up, opening her mouth to thank you to the people that saved her.

And shut her mouth again with a snap, her eyes widening.

For these weren't people. They weren't even technically _living_.

Crowded around the soft bed that she had been put in were various _objects_. She recognized the small paintbrush that she saw at the door. She also identified a raven statue, a paintbrush holder, a paint tray and a large calligraphy brush. The only real creature was the white rabbit, which was happily munching on a strawberry.

"You must be surprised, poor thing," the paintbrush holder said sympathetically. "Don't worry, dear – we won't hurt you. We just want to help."

The other painting utensils nodded vigorously. The rabbit jumped onto the bed, shyly offering her a (unbitten) strawberry. She hesitantly reached out. The rabbit placed the fruit into her hand. Risa murmured a quick thank you. The rabbit nodded understandingly and squeaked "Kyuu!" Risa giggled.

"That's With," the paintbrush holder informed Risa with a smile in her voice. "I'm Niwa Emiko. This is my husband, Kosuke-san-" she pointed to the paint tray, who nodded (Risa _thought _he did - it was rather hard to tell with a paint tray) in Risa's direction, "My father, Daiki-" the thick white calligraphy brush nodded to her, "-and my son, Daisuke." The little, delicate looking red-tipped paintbrush said politely, "How do you do?"

"And I'm Towa!" The raven statue added. Her voice showed that she was the one that was singing before.

"O-oh! Nice to meet you," Risa said hurriedly, still not quite believing that she was introducing herself to a group of painting equipment (and statue). "I'm Harada Risa."

"Nice to meet you, Risa-san," Daisuke said warmly.

"Thank you for taking care of me," Risa added.

"Not a problem, dear," Emiko assured her.

"W…where am I?" Risa hugged her knees, suddenly feeling rather cold despite the warmth of the mansion.

"You're in Dark-sama's mansion." The words seemed to affect the small family of objects. An air of worry and fear surrounded them.

"Who… who's Dark-sa-?"

At that moment, the door to the warm bedroom was swept open by a cold draft of wind. A black figure stalked into the room. Black feathers were blown everywhere. Risa gasped in fear. It was a huge, humanoid crow.

"WHO IS THIS?" the crow thundered, fixing the terrified girl with unblinking, eyes. They were a strange colour - a deep, piercing amethyst. It was like he could see right into your soul.

"We… we found her, Dark-sama," Kosuke spoke up, his voice shivering a little. "She was being chased by the wolves, and found her way here."

"SEND HER BACK OUT!" Dark roared. Every other occupant winced. Only Emiko stood strong.

"Dark-sama, we cannot!" she exclaimed. "She'll die!"

Dark hesitated. Emiko persisted.

"Please, Dark-sama… just till she gets back on her feet."

"A week," Dark snapped after a moment of consideration. Risa was glad that the creature had stopped shouting. His voice really scared her. "No more."

"Thank you, Dark-sama," Emiko bowed, the gratitude evident in her voice. Dark glared at Risa one last time before swishing out in a storm of feathers. The doors slammed shut after him. The temperature in the room slowly returned to how it was before.

"_That_ was Dark-sama," Daisuke replied to her earlier question, his red tip bristling with fright.

"He seems horrid!" Risa squeaked, still shell-shocked at what she had just seen.

"Shh! Don't let him hear you say that!" Towa warned, casting a meaningful glance at the door.

"He's not really that bad," Daisuke sighed, his tip returning to normal. "He just isn't good with people."

"Not that bad? _Not that bad?_ He just tried to throw me back out there!" Risa unsteadily stood up. "Well, I'm not waiting till he chucks me out! I'm _leaving_!" she announced.

"Risa-chan, you can't!" Emiko gasped, hopping along with Risa as she made for the door. "You still have a fever! Dark-sama said that you had a whole week, remember? At least use that time to recuperate, or you'll never make it out of the forest! It'll be suicide!"

"Kyuu!" With agreed, desperately tugging at her shoelaces.

"But-"

"No buts," Emiko said firmly in a motherly no-nonsense voice.

"My sister will be so worried," Risa said quietly. She could just imagine the panicked look on Riku's face once she realizes that Risa was gone. She would probably blame herself for losing Risa in the forest.

"You can go back soon, dear," Emiko said sympathetically. "For now, just rest."

As much as she hated to admit it, she knew that the paintbrush holder was right. She wouldn't stand five minutes out there.

"Oh all right then," she sighed.

"Kyuu!" With cheered as she made her way back to the bed. Yawning, Risa curled up under the warm covers.

"I'll be intruding here for a while then," she murmured sleepily.

"Sweet dreams, dear."

"Good night, Harada-san. Rest well."

"Nnn..." Risa mumbled as she began drifting off to dreamland once again. Dimly, she realized that Towa the raven was singing again.

"_Tsumetai taiyou ni terasareteta_

_Kainara sareta jiyuu ga atta..."_

_Riku..._ Risa thought, a single teardrop tracing its way down her face.

***Suddenly transports into a world where Amywxue, Dark and Daisuke are all chibis***

**Me: Yes yes, I know it's bad (hey, it's a story by me. What did you expect?). Please excuse the OOCness and my horrible writing in general.**

**Dark: Oi! Why am I like that?! I'm incredibly handsome and cool and...**

**Me: Yes yes, Dark-san, like we don't all know that *sweatdrop***

**Dark: SO WHY DID'YA WRITE ME LIKE THAT!? *throwing a chibi tantrum***

**Me: It's the _storyline_, Dark-san.**

**Dark: But-**

**Daisuke: *speaking from Dark's mind* Just ignore him, Amy-san. He's just sulking.**

**Dark: I am _not_-**

**Me: Okey dokey! Please review and tell me what you thought, everyone!**

**Dark: ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME!?**


End file.
